Traction-engine.



PATENTED AUG. 6, 1907.

P. sWENSoN. TRACTION ENGINE. PPLIOATION FILED 00l.`12, 1906.

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TRAGTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.12, 1906.

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PAUL SWENSON, OF HOPKINS, MINNESOTA.

TRACTION-ENGINE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 6, 1907.

Application filed October 12, 1906. Serial No. 338,590.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL SwENsoN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Hopkins, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota,have invented cerf tain new and useful Improvements in Traction-Engines;and I do hereby declare the following to be 'a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to traction engines, and has for its object toprovide an improved driving gear or power transmission mechanismtherefor.

The invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of deviceshereinafter described and defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which, illustrate my invention, likecharacters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings, Figure lis a diagram view in side elevationof a traction engine having my iinproved driving gear applied thereto,and Fig. 2 is a view partly in elevation and partly in section, on theirregular line :1:2 .r2 of Fig. 1, some parts being broken away.

Of the parts of the traction engine, the numeral 1 indicates the boiler,the numeral 2 the front wheels, and the numeral 3 the rear or tractionwheels, which traction wheels, as is usual, are provided with large spurgears 4. l

The numeral 5 indicates diagrammatically the horizontal engine which isrigidly secured on top of the horizontal portion of the boiler 1 in theusual way, and which engine includes the usual engine driven gear shaft6, having at one end a crank disk 7, and at its other end a largedriving pulley 8. On the crank shaft 6, at the opposite side of theboiler to the crank disk 7, is secured a spur pinion 9. Mounted insuitable bearings 10, suitably secured to the boiler below thehorizontal portion thereof and adjacent to the fire box end 1fL thereof,is a transversely extended shaft 11, which, at its ends, carries spurpinions 12, that mesh one with each of the gears 4 of the two tractionwheels 3. Seemed to the shaft 11, on the same side as the crank disk 7,is a large spur gear 13.

In accordance with my invention, the driving connections between thepinion 9 and gear 13 include a shaft that is extended through thehorizontal portion of the boiler. This shaft 14 is mounted in suitablebearings 15, secured on the sides of the boiler. One end of said shaft14 is provided with a spur gear 16 that meshes with the pinion 9, and atits other end is provided with a large spur pinion 17 that meshes with alarge gear 13 of the shaft 11.

The shaft 14 extends through a large tube 13, which tube extendstransversely and horizontally through the horizontal section of theboiler above the flues 1b thereof. To form suitable seats for the endsof the tube 18, the adjacent side portions of the boiler aie shown asprovided with inset plates as shown at 19. To insulate the shaft 14 fromthe heat of the boiler, the tube 18 is provided with a lining 20 ofasbestos, which lining is conveniently held in position by a light metaltube 2l.

I-Iitherto it has been customary to transmit power from the engine tothe traction wheels by driving gears located on one side of the boiler,and in practice it has been found that with this arrangement, the straintransmitted through the gears reacts on one side of the boiler, and hasa tendency to bend or spring the boiler out of shape. Furthermore, verylarge intermediate gears have usually been employed, and the arrangementhas been such that a variation in the driving speed of the tractionwheels, with respect to the crank shaft of the engine, could not bereadily made by a substitution of gears. By the improved arrangementabove described, wherein part of the driving gears are at one side ofthe boiler and part thereof at the other, and the power is transmittedby a shaft that, is extended through the boiler, the boiler is relievedfrom torsional and lateral strains such as would tend to spring the sameout of shape. Furthermore, by passing the said power transmission shaftthrough the horizontal portion of the boiler, the reactingforcestransmitted to the boiler from the said shaft are carried belowthe top thereof, and are received by large and heavy bearings firmlyanchored to the opposite sides thereof. Again, by this improvedarrangement, speed and power transmitted from the engine driven crankshaft to the traction wheels may be varied to suit different conditions,by the substitution of coperating pairs of pinions 9 and gears 16 on therespective shafts 6 and 14.

The driving gear or power transmission mechanism described has been putinto actual use on a traction engine, and has been highly efficient forthe purposes had in view.

What I claim is:

In a traction engine, the combination with traction wheels 3 and gears 4carried thereby, of a steam engine mounted on the horizontal portion ofits boiler and includ- -ing an engine driven crank shaft G, a tube 1Sextended' ing with said gear 16, and a gear 13 on said shaft 11 ltransversely through the horizontal portion of said boiler meshing withsaid pinion 17, substantially as described. above the flues thereof,bearings l5 secured to the sides 'of In testimony whereof I ax mysignature in presence. the boiler in line with said tube 18, the shaft14 journaled of two Witnesses.

in said bearings 15 and extended through said tube 1S, the shaft 1ljournaled in suitable bearings in the boiler and provided at its endswith pinions 12 meshing with said gears Witnesses 4, a gear 1G on oneend of saidV shaft 14 and a pinion 17 E. F. CODDINGTON, on the other endthereof, a pinion 9 on said shaft G Inesh- J. A. HAsP.

PAULY SWENSON.

